We arrived home tired but triumphant to actual smiles, waves and hugs (if not cheers) from hopeful fellow villagers who envisaged long fruitful hours fishing in the Kephalonian waters.
The Catamaran was parked overnight in the layby directly outside the house and many watchful eyes kept guard on it.
Next day, Hubby the powerboat instructor and two seasoned fishermen proudly towed the vessel to the Marina at Argostoli - the capital town of Kephalonia.
The boat drew many admiring glances, although when the clasic Greek questioning began about how much we had paid, they seemed to think we had been mad to spend so much.
But as we said this is a one of a kind boat, a custom boat and built by a small exclusive company and so one must expect to pay a premium for rarity and top quality.
This was met with serious nods of grudging agreement.
The weather was a bit blustery and rainy with wind speeds about force 3 - 4 and wave heights choppy 75cm.
The Greeks were not optimistic about going anywhere in this. But Hubby had been told of the superior ability of the Powercat to cope with adverse sea conditions, and this was a pond compared with the stuff he regularly powerboated in, back in the UK. So he made a decision and took the craft out for a very short circular pootle just outside the harbour and back - not even a 5 minute journey.
Considering that the Powercats were designed as rescue vehicles, he was a bit surprised at how uncomfortable passengers were in the Cuddy area even in this sea state. There are no hand holds within the cuddy - which was a surprise, so any movement flings passengers about unrestrained and they felt unsafe.
They were unable to remain in there without getting banged heads and quickly moved back outside in the wind and rain to hold onto the back rails.
The boat was brought quickly back to harbour and we were kindly donated a space to berth by a family whose fishing boat was currently out of the water. The winter cover was put on to keep the weather out and hubby and Greek fishermen returned home, looking forward to future sea fishing expeditions in calmer waters and hubby began girding his loins for the predicted difficult task of getting the imported craft registered with a Greek flag by the local port police.
A quick phone call to Powercats to let them know that the boat was in the water and that it had gone out and come back with no casualties was made.
Until the boat was registered now, we would not be able to go out in it, and so there followed a few weeks of enforced anchorage. Young son was impatient to be wave jumping, and zooming about on the water no matter what the weather. I made enquiries as to where to puchase my first wet suit and water skis and soon was kitted out like a psychedelic walrus on bright luminous orange skis.
A buoyancy aid and ski rope completed the kit and meant that both young son and I were getting more and more frustrated as we waited for the wheels of beaurocracy to do their stuff.
Next blog - our first proper outing on the Catamaran.
